After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings.

Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology.

The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots.

This looks like completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots. The 12,000 Federal Flight Deck Officers, the pilots who have been approved to carry guns, are reported to have the best behavior of any federal law enforcement agency. There are no cases where any of them has improperly brandished or used a gun. There are just a few cases where officers have improperly used their IDs.

Highlights :

Since Mr. Obama's election, pilots have told us that the approval process for letting pilots carry guns on planes slowed significantly. Last week the problem went from bad to worse. Federal Flight Deck Officers - the pilots who have been approved to carry guns - indicate that the approval process has stalled out.

Pilots cannot openly speak about the changing policies for fear of retaliation from the Transportation Security Administration. Pilots who act in any way that causes a “loss of confidence” in the armed pilot program risk criminal prosecution as well as their removal from the program. Despite these threats, pilots in the Federal Flight Deck Officers program have raised real concerns in multiple interviews.

Just a question here, I know for a fact that the army either reloaded or had reloaders by contract. The # of times a brass was reloaded was indicated by the color surrounding the primer. After X amount of times a brass was reloaded it was deemed unsafe for another load. Have they stopped doing this or are the auctioned of brass not meant to be reloaded again? Seems to me in this day & age & greed that a buyer might just buy totally spent brass & reload or sell them to be reloadable, then if someone is injured they would turn around & sue. Just maybe the reason for destroying the brass if infact thats going on.

Samhill, if that were the case then there would have been a problem long before this. And I'm sure the brass is sold "as is" with no implied or expressed warranty and with a giant "may be unsuitable for reloading, use at your own risk" warning. It is up to buyersand/or remanu ammo makers to inspect and discard any casings unsuitable for reload.

pvolcko, Like I said just wondering, I have seen spent brass on the GSA site many times & there were never any stipulations that I remember. Don`t forget if you buy a cup of hot coffee hold it between your legs & the lid pops of so you get your burnt, until somebody sued & got paid so that every place has to have idiot warnings posted every where, you could assume the buyers beware bit but not any more.

samhill wrote:Just a question here, I know for a fact that the army either reloaded or had reloaders by contract. The # of times a brass was reloaded was indicated by the color surrounding the primer. After X amount of times a brass was reloaded it was deemed unsafe for another load. Have they stopped doing this or are the auctioned of brass not meant to be reloaded again? Seems to me in this day & age & greed that a buyer might just buy totally spent brass & reload or sell them to be reloadable, then if someone is injured they would turn around & sue. Just maybe the reason for destroying the brass if infact thats going on.

The military brass cases have crimped primers. This makes the ammunition more reliable in full auto firearms. The crimp keeps the primer locked in place. If the primer did not have the military crimp in the brass case, it might back out a little ( under hard recoil ) and tie up the rifle etc...

The brass once fired does not meet military spec.

To hand load this once fired brass requires one more step, removing the primer pocket crimp.RS

After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings.

Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology.

The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots.

This looks like completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots. The 12,000 Federal Flight Deck Officers, the pilots who have been approved to carry guns, are reported to have the best behavior of any federal law enforcement agency. There are no cases where any of them has improperly brandished or used a gun. There are just a few cases where officers have improperly used their IDs.

Highlights :

Since Mr. Obama's election, pilots have told us that the approval process for letting pilots carry guns on planes slowed significantly. Last week the problem went from bad to worse. Federal Flight Deck Officers - the pilots who have been approved to carry guns - indicate that the approval process has stalled out.

Pilots cannot openly speak about the changing policies for fear of retaliation from the Transportation Security Administration. Pilots who act in any way that causes a “loss of confidence” in the armed pilot program risk criminal prosecution as well as their removal from the program. Despite these threats, pilots in the Federal Flight Deck Officers program have raised real concerns in multiple interviews.

I'd rather save the 2 million per year rather than give pilots a day's worth of shooting fun at a gun range. Most pilots don't want to carry guns anyway, as they have enough responsibilty just flying the plane. Sky Marshals require great amounts of time to train & can't be learned in an afternoon of shooting & drinking beers at a gun range. Save the 2 million & put it where it will do some good.

Take it with a grain of salt - it seems only the Moonie Times has this story and there is nothing about it on the pilot's union website. I don't buy the Moonie Times claiming they are afraid to speak up about it as they are usually not a cowardly organization when it comes to speaking their minds.

Maybe LSFarm will comment on it as he is a commercial pilot and would know if this story is true.

Be interesting to hear Greg's (Lsfarm) input on this. Seems to me he decided not to arm himself while piloting & I forget what his reason were?? (I think it was unwanted additional workload for an already busy professional but I could be wrong??)